The new Salvia cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventor, Howard Bentley, in Wonga Park, Victoria, Australia. The objective of the breeding program was to produce new Salvia varieties with denser plant habits, strong garden performance, in a range of flower colors. The cross resulting in this new variety was made during April 2006.
The seed parent is the unpatented, Salvia microphylla ‘Trewithin’. The pollen parent is the unpatented, proprietary variety Salvia greggii ‘005’. The new variety was identified as a potentially interesting selection in October 2006, at a research greenhouse in Wonga Park, Australia. Further observations and evaluations were made during 2007.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘EGGBEN004’ by vegetative cuttings was first performed during 2007, at a research greenhouse in Wonga Park, Australia. Subsequent propagation has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type on successive generations.